Garment hanger



GARMENT HANGER Filed Aug. 27, 1948 Patented Aug. 21, 1951 UNI TED 1 2,565,414

-GARMENT Clarke ,E. Warren, La Grange,::.-Il*l;,;:assignonzto ,Mackie-Lovejoy.Manufacturing.CompanmChi: cage, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application .Augu'st' 27, mes-swarm. 46,469 (Cl'r223-J-96i1 "3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to an improvedrgarment hanger .of the type shown in Deknatel Patent No. 1,955,792.

In a device of this typejaws are, provided .to engage the garment to besupported and the jaws in turn are "supported by arms whichareproyided Withintermediate portions or cranks. .A lever-sis .pivotally mounted on oneeofv the. vcranks and engages the other crank and serves to. draw *slides.

Heretoforepthe roller. bearing has been .fabricated from a short. strip of. steel, which is, curled uprinto more .or less of a cylindrical. shape. I have found that when..thesspring-which. urges thezjaws apart isseoured-at its free ends-to the cranks, as. shown .theaforementioned patent, that there isle-tendency on the .partof the ends of the-spring to push the-roller. laterally so that it rides up on oneofethe crank-v arms and is sdeformed. When this occurs, the. roller will be wedged insuch 1a position thatsit will not rotate and. hence the advantages ofusi-ng the rollersare lost.

Furthermore, in the-arrangement. shown in that .patent, it isdesirable-that-theaxis. of the helix of .theespring coincide with thewaxis of rotation of the armand-crank elements about each other. .However; since the parts are formed bybending operations, it isdiflieu-lt tomaintain close -tole-rances,'w-ith the result that-this optimum conditionseldomqobtains; If the "spring arms are, shorter than :the crank arm, thespring is likely to break. If the spring arms are-too lon ,"they will bucklepcausing permanent de formation of the spring. In either event, the ends of the spring tend t'osslide off the crank andto creep up the crank arms. withthe .result that the spring arms are subiectedtola torsional deformation which frequently results in breakage of the spring Itisbelieved that the above-mentioned dimcu-lties encountered with the .priorart springconfstructionare also due in..p'a1it; to theAfac-tv that the ends of the spring are anchored to the'transversely disposed crank elements. Due to the manufacturing difficulties, these are not necessarily spaced equidistantly from the axis of rotaaround the cranks in such' a -manner that the efi'ective radius of each-spring arm corresponds "tothatof its associated crank. Thus, stresses are set "up in'the "spring which tend to cause the-springends to slide off the crank, but which would be' avoided if' the s'pring ends :were slidably not take placeyand "which an improved spring is-=prov-ided*which is not subject to the aforementionedobjections. 15

It isa further object ofthis invention to pro- *vide in=a garment "hanger 01'" this type, a roller hearing which is made from brass or other'mater'i'al having a low frictional eoeffioient with respect-to the nickel plated-steel of which the lever 'i's falbi'icated. Thusthe leveroperates much more readily even though the rotation of the roller bearing is impede'd due to =its variation from true 'cylindricality; Actually, 'I have found that itis diflicult to' fabricate' a small sheet of metal -into' a-true cylinder 'sincethe end portions cannot be bent as readily "as the intermediate portion of thestrip. Thusthe resulting cylinder has two "adjacent flat rspots which-are disposed at an angle with "each other, each of these fiat spot's'represen-tingthe endportions of the original strip or blank. At these 'times when the lever is ibeing drawmupto'"urge-the jaws together, thereis "considerable pressure exerted by the lever on the 'roller bearin'giand "if the latter is in-such anangul'ar position that one of the flat *spotsdsengaged'by the-lever, then-the roller willn'ot'rotate. By-fabricating the cylinder bearingfrombrass stock as pointed out above, the

*fri'cti'on' between ithe parts at these times is roller bearing and "its relationship with the adjacent parts.

The garment hanger comprises a pair of jaws l0 and II which are preferably made of strips rod for supporting each of said jaws for pivoted movement with respect to each other, each of said rods comprising two end portions bent to form jaw arms and an intermediate portion including a crank, one of said rods being bent around the other at points between said crank and said jaw arms to form two aligned hinge portions, a clamping lever pivotally mounted on one of said cranks and adapted to engage the other of said cranks to bring said jaws into clamping engagement with each other, and a l8 and the jaw arms [6 are formed into aligned helices 19 which embrace correspondingly disposed pintle portions 29 on the opposite rod. Thus, the jaws I0 and II are pivotally mounted with respect to each other.

The clamping lever 20 has a bent end 2| which pivotally engages crank IT. The clamping lever also has a camming portion 22 which is adapted to ride over crank l4 and bring the jaws into clamping engagement, this position of the parts being shown in Fig. 2, although the clamping lever is omitted for purposes of clarity. The crank 14 is provided with roller bearing 23 which is preferably made of a strip of brass stock which is bent into more or less cylindrical shape as shown in Fig. 5. As indicated above, it is difficult to provide a roller bearing of true cylindrical shape since it is bent around the crank after the crank has been formed. Thus, it is generally provided with fiat spots 23a and 23b.

The jaws are urged into their open position by means of a spring 24. One end 25 of the spring is bent around one of the jaw arm positions l3 and the other end 26 is bent around the jaw arm portion 16. The middle portion of the spring is formed into a loop 21 which passes over and around the two rods at one of the helices l9 or at a point adjacent thereto and is provided with a comparatively narrow neck as indicated by the reference numeral 28. At least one of the end portions 25 and 26 preferably engage the jaw arm portions loosel to permit a certain amount of sliding movement during operation.

In operation, the spring 24 tends to hold the jaws apart when the clamping lever 20 is in the position shown in Fig. 1. Since the loop 2'! of the spring passes over the helix IS, the spring cannot drop down to a position in which the spring limits the extent of jaw opening, and in which position the spring is subject to breakage if the jaws are forced apart. The narrow neck 28 prevents the spring from riding up the jaw arms more than a limited amount.

Since the ends of the spring are not secured to the two cranks there will be no tendency to cause the roller bearing to become wedged against one of the crank arms. Even though in some instances the roller bearingmay not rotate due to its departure from true cylindricality the fact that it is made of brass serves to reduce the friction otherwise present in the operation of the device.

As shown in the drawingsjthe outer end of E the clamping lever may be formed into a hook so that the garment. hanger may be conveniently supported from a clothes rod. However, other supporting means may be provided and the clamping lever may be utilized solely for clamping purposes.

I claim:

l. A garment hanger comprising two jaws, a

spring having a single looped portion passing around said rods at one of said hinge portions 'and having its ends slidably secured to said jaw arms for urging said jaws out of clamping engagement, said single looped portion comprising a loop of less than 360 and having a con stricted neck portion which is narrower than the diameter of said hinge portions to limit the sliding movement of said ends with respect to said jaw arms. a

2. A garment hanger comprising two jaws, a rod for supporting each of said jaws for pivoted movement with respect to each other, each of said rods comprising two end portions bent to form jaw arms and an intermediate portion including a crank, one of said rods having axially aligned helical portions at points between said crank and said jaw arms and the other of said rods having axially aligned pintle portions at points between said crank and said jaw arms, said helical portions surrounding said pintle portions to provide a hinged connection between said rods, a clamping lever pivotally mounted on one of said cranks and adapted to engage the other of said cranks to bring said jaws into clamping engagement with each other, and a spring having two ends and an intermediate looped portion passing around both of said rods at a point in thevicinity of said hinged connection, each end being wrapped around one of said jaw arms for urging said jaws out of clamping engagement, at least one of said ends being slidably associated with its corresponding jaw arm, said looped portion comprising a single loop of less than 360 whereby said spring may be removed from said hanger.

3. In a garment hanger of the type described having two jaws and a rod for supporting each of said jaws for pivoted movement with respect to each other, each of said rods comprising two end portions bent to form substantially radially disposed jaw arms and an intermediate portion including a crank, one of said rods being bent around the other at points between said crank and said jaw arms to form two aligned hinges and, a spring having a looped portion passing around one of said hinges and having its ends slidably secured to said jaw arms, said looped portion comprising a single loop of less than 360.

CLARKE E. WARREN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 608.295 Mahoney Aug. 2, 1898 1,955,792 Deknatel Apr. 24, 1934 

